ERIC Number: EJ1423090
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0663
EISSN: EISSN-1939-2176
Writing Fluency: Its Relations with Language, Cognitive, and Transcription Skills, and Writing Quality Using Longitudinal Data from Kindergarten to Grade 2
Journal of Educational Psychology, v116 n4 p590-607 2024
Theoretical models hold that written products (e.g., quality of written composition) are the outcome of the writing process (e.g., translation, transcription, revision) and skills and knowledge on which the writing process draws (e.g., language, transcription, cognitive skills). In the present study, we examined the relations among writing quality; the writing production process measured by writing fluency; and language, cognitive, and transcription skills, using longitudinal data from English-speaking beginning writers who were followed from kindergarten to Grade 2 (N = 261). Children's working memory, attentional control, spelling, handwriting fluency, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and writing quality were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. Writing fluency was measured in Grade 2 in two ways, using a process-based measure, writing burst length (chunks of text produced between pauses during writing), and a product-based measure, the number of words produced per total writing time. Results from structural equation modeling showed that Grade 2 writing fluency was moderately related to Grade 2 writing quality (0.40) and completely mediated the relations of Grade 1 spelling and handwriting fluency skills to Grade 2 writing quality. In contrast, Grade 1 vocabulary was directly related to Grade 2 writing quality over and above Grade 2 writing fluency. Kindergarten working memory was indirectly related to Grade 2 writing fluency via Grade 1 spelling skill. These findings indicate that the writing production process measured by writing fluency mediates the relations of transcription skills to writing quality, and executive function is indirectly related to writing fluency via transcription skills for beginning writers.
Descriptors: Writing (Composition), Transcripts (Written Records), Language Usage, Cognitive Processes, Longitudinal Studies, Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Beginning Writing, Short Term Memory, Literacy Education, Writing Processes
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Related Records: ED650289
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education; Grade 1; Grade 2
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes